Teenage aunts were in charge of wandering Boynton toddler

2-year-old left the house when his baby sitters, 13 and 16, fell asleep, police say

A motorist called 911 around 5 p.m. Tuesday when a boy was spotted near Paxford… (Boynton Beach Police Department,…)

August 11, 2010|By Alexia Campbell, Sun Sentinel

A toddler found wandering a down a busy street in Boynton Beach Tuesday evening is now at home with his father while police and state welfare workers investigate.

Two-year-old Strogoff Prevot Jr. was found on Hypoluxo Road around 5 p.m., wearing nothing but blue jeans, police said. A passing driver picked him up and called police.

"He was out in the middle of Hypoluxo Road," the unidentified driver tells a police dispatcher in a recording of the call.

The boy's father, Strogoff Prevot, was at a funeral in Miami when he found out police were looking for the toddler's parents.

"I was very upset," Prevot, 27, said Wednesday. "Here I was thinking my son was fine."

He called police and they tracked down the boy's mother.

Boynton Beach police gave this account of what happened, based on interviews with detectives:

Floriante Petit-Bien, 21, left her son with his grandmother while she went to work and school. She works at a home health-care agency, then takes evening classes at a cosmetology school in West Palm Beach.

Around 4 p.m., the grandmother dropped off Strogoff with his two teenage aunts at their house on Seaford Lane in Boynton Beach.

The teens soon fell asleep. The 13-year-old aunt woke up around 6 p.m. and assumed her nephew was in the room with her 16-year-old sister. Around 7:30 p.m., the other teen woke up and thought Strogoff was with her younger sister.

They realized he was missing when a third aunt arrived home from work and asked about him. Then they called 911.

Strogoff Jr. has been temporarily released to the custody of his father with Petit-Bien's consent. The Florida Department of Children & Families is investigating whether the child was abused or neglected.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, DCF could help the mother find day care programs, parenting classes or other services, said DCF spokeswoman Elisa Cramer.

The last resort would be to put the toddler in foster care, she said.

It's important that parents be careful about who they leave their children with, Cramer said.